A series of ordinances that would restore jail time for most municipal offenses, create an "unlawful conduct" criminal charge that could be levied against people who break administrative rules and move "pedestrian interference with traffic" from the traffic code to the criminal code received initial approval from the Boulder City Council on Wednesday night.

The ordinances are part of an ongoing effort by city officials to reduce "social misbehavior" on the municipal campus area between the main Boulder Public Library and Central Park and make it more attractive to families.

The Boulder Police Department also has installed surveillance cameras on the municipal area, and city prosecutors are asking for enhanced sentences for crimes committed in "high-impact areas" such as the municipal campus and the Pearl Street Mall.

The restoration of the possibility of jail time for even a first offense undoes a City Council decision made in 2012, when many homeless defendants ticketed for camping were insisting on jury trials and creating a large case load in the municipal court.

City officials hoped that by taking away the possibility of jail time, they would not have to grant jury trials. However, a municipal court judge found that defendants still had the right to a jury trial.

City Attorney Tom Carr said sometimes people with long criminal records are arrested yet again, but it's the first time they have been arrested for that particular offense. However, a judge could not sentence them to jail time.

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Carr said most first-time offenders still won't go to jail for municipal offenses.

The other two ordinances allow the city to bring criminal charges against people who violate administrative rules and pedestrians who are in traffic, including panhandlers who don't get out of traffic when the light turns green.

City prosecutors said the ordinance would not apply to people who merely step into traffic while the light is red to get money from a stopped car.

Some City Council members have said the city should restrict panhandling at intersections or from drivers as a safety issue, but Carr said the "pedestrian obedience ordinance" is not an attempt to address that issue.

The Boulder County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union urged the council not to restore jail time for first offenders.

"The justification given to Council to reverse this decision in 2014 are so-called, 'unintended consequences,'" chapter vice-chair Bill Benjamin wrote in an email to the City Council. "Yet it is clear that (the) only thing that has changed in two years is the City Attorney's incorrect advice to Council that jury trials would be eliminated for illegal camping if jail sentences were eliminated. No Council member should consider this proposal before asking tough questions and after reviewing the legislative history."

Benjamin referred to the memo from Carr in 2012 that noted that jail sentences were out of proportion to the risk to public health and safety from most of the offenses.

"Any Council member who does support repeal should go on record to state the specific facts and circumstances that now justify such a quick reversal of a carefully-considered position," Benjamin wrote.

At the meeting, Denise Maes of the ACLU said these ordinances were part of a trend in other Colorado communities to target the poor and the homeless.

Maes urged the city not to use "the guise of public safety" to go after panhandlers.

"The poor are often the first to lose their civil liberties, but the Supreme Court has upheld the right of the poor to ask for charity," she said.

Sarah Krakoff said she has lived in Boulder for 18 years and raised her daughter here, and she doesn't believe the city needs stricter ordinances.

"To me, (the municipal campus and Boulder Creek Path) are family-friendly and more so because they are a rare chance to see people who are not privileged," she said. "I don't want to shield her from that, and I think it makes us a better family. I don't want to downplay the real issues, but I think our existing ordinances are adequate to deal with them."

City Councilman Andrew Shoemaker said he wants the public to understand the city isn't targeting homeless people, and Boulder wants to play a role in addressing the root causes.

"I want to make clear that the discussions involved bad actors," Shoemaker said. "They don't involve a class of people. They involve situations where people actually committed crimes, and we have reports of need for increased enforcement and problems with our process."

Councilwoman Suzanne Jones said the issues are complex and she hopes people come to the public hearing when the ordinances are heard for a second reading this spring.

"We're really counting on people to help us figure out these issues," she said.

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